A biography for Makoto Shinkaihasn’t been written yet.
“When I was young as a teenager, that was the biggest mystery in the world to me: Why don't people connect?”
“I think it is one of the common themes for many Japanese people to choose where to live: Tokyo or their hometown.”
“In daily or everyday life, I am so impressed with tiny details, like when I look up at a street lamp falling on the street, it seems to have meaning or so much information in it.”
“You don't want to be imitating his style. Every anime-maker is thinking, 'I can't be too like Miyazaki.'”
“I think it is really important to not only take advantage of these tools that you have at your disposal but also to really take the time to develop ideas within yourself and think about what you want to animate, and then you can use these tools to create what you want to create.”
“When I was growing up, I didn't have tons and tons of friends.”
“Ghibli is about craftsmanship. They draw characters and put life in it.”
“I don't think anybody can replace Mr. Miyazaki.”
“When I was growing up and until I got married, I had some times when I felt a bit lonely and a little bit isolated - even after I got married.”
“I was working in a gaming company, but I really wanted to make animation. I didn't really have anything special, no special tools at my disposal, so I used what I had on hand like Photoshop, and that's really how I started.”
“You learn a lot more from stories about getting rejected than stories about becoming happy.”
“'Your Name' is a film created with the innate imaginations of a Japanese team and put together in a domestic medium. When such a work is imbued with Hollywood filmmaking, we may see new possibilities that we had been completely unaware of - I am looking forward to the live-action film with excited anticipation.”
“The identity of Studio Ghibli movies are how the characters move. They move like live, real people.”
“Maybe we tried to leave as much memories of ourselves with each other because we knew one day we wouldn't be together any more.”
“I think animation can tell more than live action.”
“When you're a teenager, there are more things you don't know than you know, and more people that you haven't met than you have met. I felt that way when I was a teenager, and I think maybe, with my films, I'm targeting grown-ups who remember that feeling.”
“I personally am not very interested in awards or the awards circuit.”
“I love you. I can't remember when I fell in love with you but very naturally, I had fallen in love with you before I knew it. The first time I met you, you were a strong and kind boy. You always protected me.”
“There are loads of novels that I really love, like Haruki Murakami's books, and when I read them, I do think about how they would work as an anime. But I do believe that those are great books because they work best as novels, or great manga work best in that form.”
“When we were doing 'Five Centimeters Per Second,' at that time, Japan was in an era when it felt nothing would ever change, so I wanted to make a movie that reflected that feeling.”